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Welcome to the AMWA PATH Monthly Newsletter.

This is a monthly series in research and advocacy news summaries created by the PATH residents and medical students. Newsletters will feature brief breakdowns on recent scholarly publications and policy changes as well as highlighting PATH member efforts and upcoming events.

30th International Congress of the Medical Women’s International Association

The 30th International Congress of the Medical Women’s International Association, Generation Y: Challenges of the Future for Female Medical Doctors, was held July 28-31, 2016 at the University of Vienna in Austria. Over 600 attendees gathered from all over the world representing 40 different countries.

AMWA student members Hilary Samuelson, Rachel Cohen, Yuliana Noah, Sarah Marx, and Rachel Zolno (pictured above) attended the conference and their poster was selected for an oral presentation and as a top 10 finalist.

Their research, titled “A Pilot Study Comparing Educational Modalities on Sex Trafficking Education in Medical School,” began shortly after hearing about sex trafficking for the first time at the 2015 national AMWA conference in Chicago.

Realizing that sex trafficking was not addressed in their medical education at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY, they worked with PATH physicians Dr. Holly Atkinson and Dr. Kanani Titchen to implement 3 different educational sessions during the fall of 2015. The sessions covered general information on sex trafficking, as well as how to identify a victim in a health care setting. Surveys measuring each session’s effectiveness in changing student attitudes and knowledge of sex trafficking were administered to student participants.

Street Outreach Program Data
Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2015

What's in the report: The Street Outreach Program (SOP) surveyed 656 homeless and runaway youth, ages 14-21, in eleven different grantee locations through interviews and focus groups. Qualitative information was gathered regarding their experience with homelessness, victimization, mental and sexual health, as well as other topics of interest. Respondents were asked about the services they needed, such as transportation, clothing, and employment, as well as those that they received.

Take Home Points: Street outreach programs are a growing field of practice but often operate through the efforts of individual providers and not through centralized healthcare systems. The study provides data on what services and healthcare needs this at risk population have as well as advocating for increased inter-agency cooperation for providing social services. Results reinforced that runaway and homeless youth are more likely engage in survival sex (e.g. engaging in sex acts for food, shelter, and/or money) and highlighted the additional risks that LGBT youth experience.

Training in NYC
Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) will host its bi-annual two-day training on Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and domestic trafficking in New York City on September 13th & 14th, 2016.

Unable to Attend?
PATH is dedicated to sparking the conversation and linking healthcare professionals to training programs. Organizations like GEMS may work with interested institutions and providers to create group training sessions.

Future Events:Subscribe to the PATH newsletter for announcements about upcoming events near you and e-mail PATH for more information or questions.

About the Editor:

Michelle Lyman is a 3rd year medical student at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. She is currently working through clerkships at the Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, PA through USF's SELECT Program. She first became involved in AMWA in 2015 and since then has become passionate about PATH's mission and being an advocate against human trafficking.
Have any questions or concerns? Email: melyman@health.usf.edu

About the Editor:
Yaowaree (Noona) Leavell is a PGY2 Neurology Resident at Mount Sinai Hospitals. Her involvement in AMWA began while she was a student at Florida State University College of Medicine where her branch was involved in a variety of domestic violence and women's health outreach projects. She has been a part of the PATH-AMWA chapter as it grew from a small authorship committee into the task force which gave rise to this Newsletter. Feel free to drop her a line to leave comments, puns, questions - or just to say hello.